Sermon Texts

December 25, 2023 – Christmas                                                                    Text:  Romans 5:15-17

Dear Friends in Christ,

            I am well known around my house as one who makes the remnants of Christmas disappear quickly.  The wrapping paper gets put in a trash bag.  I take all my gifts and put them where they need to be.  Tags are cut off of clothes and either put in the laundry or I see if I can get one wear out of them before washing.  Socks and ties go to the appropriate places.  Then a bag is put together and set by the stairs because those gifts need to go to my office.  Christmas?  Who had Christmas here?

            What about you?  Are you like me and you don’t like clutter?  Or do revel in the clutter and the paper everywhere for this one day?  Do you place your gifts under the tree and not put them away until the new year?  Well, my sermon advice is going against my grain, but you will understand by the end of . . .

“DON’T PUT THE GIFTS AWAY”

            In our text we have the words “free gift” mentioned five times.  Do you think Paul is trying to get through to us here?  I think so to.  The “free gift” is the one that we don’t put away.  It’s stays with us forever.  No box.  No closet.  No drawer.  It is a part of who we are.

            Let’s take a closer look.  “But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if many died through the one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”  The free gift is God’s grace in Christ.  Why is it needed?  Because of the one man’s trespass, and that man was Adam.  His sin is our sin.  But another man, Jesus Christ gave us the greater gift that “abounded for many.”

            We are a broken people.  Our once-perfect tie with God in the Garden of Eden was broken long ago.  At times our lives can be a shattered mess.  A broken marriage.  Kids breaking away from the church.  A disease that splits our nice little life apart.  How can all of this be put back together again?  The incarnation of a baby in a manger who as a man mends our broken hearts when He dies on the cross for our missteps.  As our text says, instead of the trespass bringing condemnation, the free gift brings justification.  Jesus brought the broken relationship of God and man back together again.  Don’t put that gift away.  Enjoy it every day that you awaken.  Celebrate it when life looks a little dark.  Remember the light – the light of Christ that shines for you.  An eternal union that Christ made possible for God and man.

            One reason we don’t put the gifts away is because life is not over.  I heard a doctor recently tell a patient who has disease in his body that they want him to live.  Enjoy life.  Life is in front of you, this no death sentence.  Verse 17 echoes the same thing, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”  The free gift of righteousness is Christ’s work in death and resurrection.  Even though we have death in front of us, it is the gateway to an eternity with Christ. 

            At this time of year, we think of loved ones not with us.  We miss them, but that falls on our heart.  Their gift of eternity is not put away.  They are enjoying no more broken pieces, no wars or rumors of wars, no Pope going off the rails, no infighting around the Christmas tree.  They are the blessed.  That is the same gift we carry around with us.  Christ unwrapped it and gave it to us free.  How can we not be thankful for the hope that we have? 

            Don’t put the gifts away.  Christmas isn’t over, it really has just begun.  A Blessed Christmas to all of you.

                                                Amen.        

December 24, 2023 – Christmas Eve Evening                                                           Text:  Romans 3:23-24

Dear Friends in Christ,

            What is a Christmas memory that lasts?  Every year as a kid it was the holidays in Wisconsin.  Christmas Eve on mom’s side and Christmas Day on dad’s side.  Before my organized sports and when my parents were both teachers we would stay up there until the New Year.  This all changed on December 24, 1983.  Oh, the usual plan was in place but . . . a snowstorm hit.  Blizzard conditions.  We left and traveled through the country from Argenta to Maroa.  Could barely see the road.  The 10-minute trip took 45 minutes.  We took many trips to Wisconsin in the snow, but this was different.  My parents made the wise decision to head back home.  That day many of you will remember that Illinois played Kentucky in basketball with high school referees wearing players high tops because the regular refs couldn’t get there.  I don’t remember any of my gifts that year, but I do hold that memory.

            What about the shepherds this night?  Routine, right?  I don’t think so, my friend.  They were probably sitting around jawing, “Bill, are you going to see your family for Christmas?” and then an angel appeared and made it a night they would never forget.  The reason for that?  They were going to see a gift wrapped in a manger.  They were going to realize as I pray we do that . . .

“SOME GIFTS LAST”

            Many of our Christmas gifts do not last.  Get a box of chocolates or fruit and it usually gone before Epiphany.  Clothes might work for a while, but then you binge on some cinnamon rolls, and you are looking for an alteration store.  A book is well read and then becomes something you have to dust around.  Calendars are nice . . . well, you know where this is going.

            This gift lasts because it has always been.  This gift is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  This gift was prophesied for hundreds of years and now here He is in the flesh.  The Godhead see.  That’s the gift of the Savior born today.  No past promise was thrown away, they all came true as this gift lived His life and went to His death for us.  This gift lasts because it is what the world needed, what it needs, and what it will need.

            Why do you and I as part of the world need this gift?  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God?”  You do fall short, don’t you?  No one can live the holy life.  Scripture shouts everywhere that we are far away from the perfection that the Law of God requires.  Wouldn’t life be more peaceful if we could live the holy life?  If certain issues faded or we repented or are worries were carried away?  God has the answer.  We are in God’s caring hands.  He surrounds us with His love.

            While we fall short of God’s glory, He doesn’t leave us hanging.  “We are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”  This gift is always useful, this is why it lasts.  Sin, yes thank you, every day.  Grace, yes thank you, every day.  Justification, yes thank you, every day.  Redemption, yes thank you, every day.  Christ Jesus, yes thank you, every day.  Christ is always there, because we always need the gifts that He provides. 

            Every day we get up could be the day of our death.  But that shouldn’t concern us.  When God sent this gift down to earth, He knew He wouldn’t return for about 33 years and 40 days.  His Son had a job to do.  His Son was obedient to His Father.  He was gift giving.  He lived the perfectly holy life.  He didn’t fall short.  He healed.  He did miracles.  It was a wonder.  Then He suffered.  Then He died.  Was the gift dead?  No, it was a wonder.  He came back to life.  This gift appeared to many.   He unwrapped a plethora of blessings for us.  We are forgiven.  We are loved.  We have an eternal home that awaits us.  The gift of Christmas lasts and lasts and lasts.  It has no end. 

            Maybe tonight or tomorrow you will get a gift you remember for a while.  But then the memory of it begins to fade.  Christ is born for you.  He will never forget you.  You are most precious to Him.  Jesus and His grace is the gift that lasts.

                                                                                                Amen.     

Sermon – December 24, 2023                                                                      Text:  Romans 16:25-27

Dear Friends in Christ,

            How many of you enjoy logic games?  I recently did one that had 10 logical questions.  With questions like this, the thinker is control.  They are using deductive reasoning to answer the question.  I remember this question from the 10.  “Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?”  Got your answer?  Mt. Everest.  It didn’t need to be “discovered” before it was the highest mountain. 

            With the mystery of the Gospel, deductive reasoning may help communicate it, but it can never reveal the mystery of the Gospel.  St. Paul says in our text that the mystery “was kept secret for long ages.”  No one could deduce that God would create human beings perfect, that these same humans would rebel and do nasty things and He would take upon Himself the painful work of saving them.  No one could ever deduce that God would sacrifice His Son for man’s insults and demand no kind of payment from them.  No one could deduce that God would achieve all this through the humble birth, deprived life, and agonizing death of His own Son.  This mystery could only be revealed in God’s written Word and his incarnate Word, Jesus Christ the beloved Son of God.  But now, all this has been revealed so we say . . .

“TO GOD ALONE BE GLORY”

            God’s glory is so great but human beings have always been trying to understand it.  We think of glory as might and power and prestige that serves the glorious one.  Glory is about the one who has it and the others around them are weak and inferior.  An athlete’s glory is in winning – which means he beats someone else.  A businessman wants to be on the cover of Fortune magazine thus lifting him further.  An actress goes on stage at the Oscars with her trophy and thanks “all the little people.”

            If God’s glory were that way, we would give it grudgingly because it would humiliate us.  In that way it would still be a mystery and we wouldn’t understand it all.  Because . . . God’s glory is an entirely different kind.  God’s glory is an attitude toward us that we can’t understand.  Toward God we are rebellious and loud and obnoxious and yet He delights to favor us.  We smash His commandments like a spoiled child, and He takes the punishment and the hell that goes with it – really?  God’s glory wants to declare us righteous.  Does that make sense?  We shame Him in the way we talk about Him and He says we are not guilty because of Jesus.  Go figure!  God considers it His glory to give us a gift.  We have Christ’s righteousness by believing it, through verse 26, “the obedience of faith.”

            To God alone be glory, because He did not keep it a secret from us.  His glory became clear when Jesus came into the world.  “The preaching of Jesus Christ” is what we are about to celebrate.  In these last days God “has spoken to us by His Son.” (Heb. 1:2)

            Jesus is the full and final revelation of the mystery.  “God in man made manifest.”  Jesus is the incarnate Word.  The “prophetic writings”, the Old Testament, always spoke of Christ, long before He came.  They are connected and were the texts used by the apostles and Jesus Himself.  Those prophetic writings with the Word of fulfillment in the New Testament, make the mystery of God’s glory known to all nations.

            To God Alone be glory.  In praise, we say “thank you.”  The whole letter to the Romans unveiled God’s plan of the Gospel.  Enemies of God to forgiven saints.  Helpless sinners to righteous men and women.  Like the Romans, all we can do is say thanks. 

            Soli Deo Gloria.  To God alone be glory.  Let us say it in everything we do.  God considers it His glory to save us.  When that is the way He sees things, there is no reason to claim any glory for ourselves.  Because of Jesus, His glorious death, His glorious resurrection, this is what we’ll say forevermore.  Glory to God!

                                                                        Amen.

December 17, 2023         Text:  John 1:6-8, 19-28

Dear Friends in Christ,

In small town life you have characters.  By now, most of you know I grew up in Argenta, 45 minutes southeast of here, population around 1,000.  In our town was a mentally challenged young man named Lyle.  His parents owned the local filling station, and the town just took care of him.  They bought him a riding lawn mower and made him an honorary deputy.  My dad’s cabinet shop was next to his parent’s gas station, so Lyle would pop in periodically just to visit.  One day he came in to talk with my dad and he had a citation and a fine for $10.  He told my dad it was because my dad had given him the finger.  Not sure if my dad ever paid the fine, but it has become a part of small-town lore.

John the Baptist barely had a town to live in, he made his home in the wilderness.  But he was known to give the finger.  He used his to point to a Savior, but this didn’t make the locals none too happy because John the Baptist was . . . 

“GIVING THE FINGER”

Ancient Christian art depicts John with an overly large mouth and a hyperextended index finger, pointing to the Lamb of God.  John is an authoritative witness, one who tells exactly what he has seen and heard.  Scripture says that every matter must be established by at least two or three witnesses for it to be considered true.  John lines up seven that testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the God, the Savior of the world.  They are John the Baptizer, the Holy Scriptures, the works the Farther does through Jesus, Jesus himself, the Holy Spirit, the apostles, and St. John’s Gospel.

John is sent to give the finger.  John was sent by God to give testimony.  “He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” (v. 8). John wasn’t the light that gives life to the world.  Nor are we, though we think we might shine a little brighter than the world.

We tend to confuse witness with the testimony, the message with the messenger.  We pay more attention to the person than the office.  Toni and I know a congregation relieving their Pastor of his duties because they don’t care for his sermons or his interactions with the congregation.  How would John fare today with his camel’s hair and leather, picking honey-coated grasshoppers from his teeth and preaching repentance and baptism?

“We do not preach ourselves,” wrote the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, “but Jesus Christ as Lord.”  The religious leaders of Jerusalem were stuck on the messenger, but didn’t hear the message.  Expectations in Israel at the time of John were higher than a five-year-old a week before Christmas.  John had created quite a stir.  So, a committee was sent to ask, “Who are you?” or more like this, “Who do you think you are?”  Religious institutions don’t care for wilderness prophets.  

It’s time for John to give this call committee the finger.  “I am not the Christ.”  “I am not Elijah.”  Then they ask, “Are you the prophet?”  John could have grabbed a little glory.  He wasn’t the prophet, but he was a prophet.  He uses his finger to point to the Light.  He wants to talk about Jesus, not himself.

This is what witnessing is about.  Witnessing is not “Jesus loves me, this I know.”  That’s boasting – true and holy boasting, but boasting nonetheless.  “Jesus loves you, this I know.”  That is witnessing.  Pointing the finger to the Savior.

Who then are you?  The priests and Levites needed to take something back to headquarters.  John wasn’t going after a bunch of internet followers.  He was using his digit to show the way of Jesus.  Jesus overshadowed him.  Quite a concept, that didn’t fly back then and is even worse today.  He wouldn’t even get into a big discussion about baptism.  He just kept giving them the finger.  Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.  He would extend that finger the next day for the crowd as he pointed in the direction of the lone figure coming toward him, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  

The Church today is still giving the finger in today’s wilderness of sin and terror and death – a voice to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name – a finger pointing to Jesus.  There is your salvation and forgiveness and life.  There is your Baptism.  There is Holy Communion.  Earlier, the Holy Spirit pointed us to our Absolution of our sin.  We point out all of these gifts to others when we share the love of Jesus with others. 

A small word of warning.  The word for witness is the same word from which we get “martyr.”  You might not lose your head, as John did.  But don’t worry, you have already died in Jesus, you have been baptismally buried into his death.  You are in the ultimate witness protection program, embraced by the death of the Son of God who loved you and gave himself up for you.  No disguise needed.  We can just tell the truth about our sin, and even more about our Savior, the world’s Savior.  Let’s give everyone the finger, pointing people to Jesus. 

Amen.        

December 13, 2023 – Advent     Text:  Acts 2:37-41

Dear Friends in Christ,

It can be difficult to find the gift that fits perfectly, and I just don’t mean clothes which can be inconsistent in their sizes.  Books might be safe, but what kind of book does the person like – fiction, non-fiction, mystery or biography?  Food can make a nice gift, but what if they have an allergy to something, and your gift leads to them having difficulty breathing?  That sure doesn’t fit perfectly.

Last year I did some ladies sweater shopping for someone in our family.  It turned out to be the gift that fit perfectly.  How do I know?  First, they told me.  But secondly, whenever we would see them they were wearing it.  It makes you feel good.

Tonight, as we continue with the theme of “gifts,” we are going to look at a gift that is beyond good, it is eternal.  It is mentioned in our text, “the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  That gift was put on us at our baptism and it is . . . 

“THE GIFT THAT FITS PERFECTLY”

Let’s go back to the birth of Jesus, Luke tells us that he was wrapped “in swaddling clothes.”  Ever wonder what are swaddling clothes?  They have been around for centuries and are still used for babies today.  After the baby has been born, the baby is bathed, maybe some lotion is put on and then they are wrapped in soft cloths.  Both of our boys came to us this way shortly after their birth.  The only thing sticking out was their head.  They were wrapped tightly and what a gift!

Before Jesus was wrapped up as the gift that fits perfectly, Matthew tells us about the work of this same Holy Spirit.  “Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:20b-21)

The people in our text it says were “cut to the heart.”  This was a deep emotional wound.  What emotional wound has cut to your heart?  A relationship that is not what it used to be?  A Christmas celebration missing a dear loved one?  Words said, that you still regret years later?  What is deep inside you that still causes a hurt? 

Then they asked the question, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (v. 38-39)

We need to recognize our desperate state, confess our sins and be washed by God.  The chief blessing of our baptism is the forgiveness of sins.  This gift of the Holy Spirit which fits perfectly is a gracious promise to all people regardless of age or race.  

Many of us were baptized as infants.  When we were brought to the font by our parents, they saw us as the perfect gift.  We were probably wrapped in a nice little package, especially if your baptism was in the Midwest winter.  Our parents and congregation confessed the faith for us.  Our sponsors diligently took an oath of their responsibility.  Then it happened, you were placed by the font and the Pastor took the water and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  And thanks be to God that fit you perfectly.  Sins washed away.  Called child of God.  On the road to the eternal life that awaits you. 

Can you recall that one Christmas gift that fit you perfectly?  For me, it was either late high school or early college.  I wanted a VCR.  At the time it cost about $200.  But I told my parents one gift would be fine, because that is what I really wanted.  I received it and it lasted for years.  I even learned to program it so it wouldn’t flash 12:00 all the time.

The one gift the Holy Spirit gives is the greatest gift.  While I enjoyed the VCR it did very little for my faith.  Even the one gift that fit you perfectly, unless it was a Bible or devotional book, could not do anything to save you.  But the gift we hear about tonight, the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, would break free of those clothes, he would use his arms to wrap us up in His love as He went to the cross for the gift of our salvation.  Haven’t we said it many times over the years at gift opening – “What a gift, it’s perfect.”  It sure is.

Amen.       

December 10, 2023       Text:  Mark 1:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

Just over a century ago, in 1919, a young lieutenant colonel and two hundred and fifty soldiers made the first road trip across the United States.  The caravan traversed 3,242 miles through eleven states in sixty-two days, and average of fifty-two miles a day.  Poor roads, rough pavement, winding routes – the message was clear:  for our nation’s security, to move forces and equipment in case of attack, to say nothing of ease and comfort, there needed to be a better way.  The young lieutenant colonel was Dwight Eisenhower.  Forty years later as president, Eisenhower instituted the Interstate Highway System that allows us to make the same trip in well under a week.

John the Baptist entered a world where the way for the Lord’s arrival was as rough and winding as that first American road trip.  John is the advance man who comes to prepare, to make straight, the way for the greater One following.  As he proclaims a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, the way is opened and prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist is . . . 

“A ONE-MAN ADVANCE TEAM”

This one-man advance team is foretold by Isaiah.  He is the last prophet of the Old Testament.  He lives in the wilderness with camel hair clothing and has a diet of locusts and wild honey.  John’s message was urgent and unmistakable.  The long-expected Messiah is coming.  Now is the time to prepare.

This wilderness/desert locale is an appropriate place to begin his work.  In the desert the Lord had molded His people into a nation once they left Egypt.  It was in the wilderness that God comforted Elijah from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel.  The harsh reality of the land stands in contrast to the lush paradise of Eden.  It is a picture of sinful degradation of God’s once perfect creation.

John the Baptist, this one-man advance team, had to let people know that he was not the Messiah.  He deflects attention from himself and directs it all to Jesus.  He is humble.  Jesus is the center and focus of this advance man.  John prepared for Jesus by pointing away from himself to Christ.

That works for us too.  John prepares for Jesus by turning us from our sins to Christ.  John could have reveled in the attention – what a great preacher he was, and how about his faithfulness to God’s calling – after all, he was the one spoken of centuries before as the guy who would be a special messenger for God.  Pretty seductive.  Maybe the advance man wanted to become the star attraction.

We can relate.  We think we are the show.  We walk out of Meijer and we don’t just throw a few pennies in the kettle, we fold up a bill and push it downward…what a good boy I am!  After a little office party imbibing, your co-workers come up to you and tell you that you are the one in the office they have always admired, and you believe it.  People are gracious to complement us on a sermon and we think we are John the Baptist.  Everyone gushes over your Christmas sugar cookies, and you are the next Betty Crocker ready to hand out your recipe with a wink and a smile.  John comes preaching a message of repentance and we think we would have done a good job with that.

None of us though can properly prepare ourselves to meet Jesus.  It is the Lord that graciously calls and comes to us.  No sinner can stand in God’s presence with his own strength or character.  Look at Moses when he saw God, or Peter, James, and John on the mountain with the Lord.  They were overshadowed with His being.

This one-man advance team boldly proclaims a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  This is a gift of God.  Many of us can misunderstand and think that repentance is our own doing.  John’s baptism is unique.  One must first be washed to be able to repent and be forgiven.

People from all over came out to John.  They were baptized in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  They were told to turn from those sins and cling to the one that John was proclaiming.  Though they didn’t know His identity yet, they were trusting that their sins were being forgiven by the Christ, the Messiah.  And they were.  Our sins are being forgiven because Jesus took them from his own Baptism by John in the Jordan to the cross.  Our sins of pride are washed away as we trust the Christ and Him crucified.  

The focus today of the Christian Church should always be on the One this advance man proclaimed.  John’s work was completed, and he is numbered with the martyrs who gave their life in service to the Savior.  He enjoys the eternal life that we are looking forward to.

The advance man did his job . . . here comes the King!

Amen.